


Years Apart Yet So Similar

by orphan_account



Category: Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (Cartoon 1994)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, No Beta, Time Travel, Trigger Warning Suicide Mention in Chapter 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28444116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A chronoskimmer malfunction leaves Ivy stranded in the 80s and she starts to catch feelings for a certain female detective.
Relationships: Carmen SanDiego/Ivy
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	1. Trash and Bones

Ivy awoke with a ringing in her ears, a ringing that stung more with every second, paired with a head-splitting headache, it was unbearable. Every part of her body just hurt but she couldn’t find any source of pain. She could barely feel her arms or legs let alone wiggle her toes. Her eyes darted back and forth throughout her surroundings, she was in an alleyway, next to a pipe, next to a dumpster, on top of a trash bag… Ivy sprung up upon her realization only to fall right back down.

With all the noise she was making, she caught the attention of another young woman, particularly dressed like one Indiana Jones, “Hey, are you alright?” She extended a hand towards her.

“Uh, yeah.” She lied. As she took the woman’s hand, Ivy’s green eyes met with the woman’s only revealed blue one, she immediately recognized her. She thought for a moment but decided not to say anything.

“Are you sure? You look a little beat up.” She was referring to Ivy’s absolute mess of a hairdo and torn jacket and jeans. Well, guess that’s an excuse to go clothes shopping.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I promise,” Suddenly her knees gave way, “Umph!”

“Really, I can take you to my agency’s medic so you can rest.” She looked at her with a slight pity in her eyes, Ivy hated that. She hated the feeling of being weak and the look her mortal adversary was giving wasn’t helping, even if she didn’t know they were adversaries yet.

“I can take care of myself!” Ivy attempted to assure her. She tried to stand again but fell over and was knocked out instead.

* * *

Ivy found herself drifting through thoughts.

She tried to think about how she ended up in this situation but she couldn’t remember, she could only assume that this had something to do with a Carmen clue and the chronoskimmer. Oh geez, she hoped Zack was ok. He was still a kid, a 14-year old one at that, who knew what kinda trouble he could get himself into. She then thought back to how Carmen had attempted to help her earlier. Seeing a younger Carmen was disorienting, she reminded her so much of herself. Her mannerisms, the way she dressed, her attitude, wait, what if she turned out just like Carmen?!

* * *

Ivy awoke with a gasp, drenched in what she hoped was sweat. She could feel that she was stripped down to just her tank top and jeans, she shivered as cold air hit her body. They could’ve at least given her a blanket.

Wait, did they go through her stuff?! Oh god, this could be bad, they’d question her on why she had an ACME badge and she wouldn’t be able to answer without revealing she’s from the future. Then, they’d send her to jail for impersonating an ACME detective, oh no.

A face passed by the entrance of the room only to turn back after realizing she was awake. “Ah, hello, Ms. Sandiego said you were still asleep so I just wanted to check on you. How are you feeling?” the man inquired.

“Uhhmm… I’m feeling alright, thank you. I really should be going now, dinner’s gonna get cold.” She attempted to regather herself after that silent freakout. The man looked at her a little strangely but dismissed his doubts.

“Alright, your shoes and jacket are on that chair over there,” he pointed, “I didn’t want to look through your stuff but a picture of you and a boy dropped out of your jacket and I didn’t know where to put it.” He handed her the picture. It was a photo of her and Zack, trying to forget that he was all alone in the present was gonna be hard.

“Thank you,” she took the photo and stashed it into her right pocket, “And it’s alright, I just have things like my wallet and house key in there anyway.” She lied, she tied her left shoe and was about to leave until she heard that familiar voice.

“Oh, Dr. Casey there you are, I was looking all over for you. I know it’s not your department but I was wondering if you could review these files of Dr. Maelstrom’s arrest,” she noticed Ivy sitting at the end of the bed, “Oh, you’re awake!”

“Yeah… thanks for helping me earlier. If you don’t mind, I’ll be going now, I need to get home before-” She got cut off.

The Chief and his usual pink backdrop appeared on the computer behind Dr. Casey, “Hey Carmen, I finally got out of that crummy old body into this slick new computer! Oh, can you believe it? I feel so alive!” Looks like, after all these years, the Chief has barely changed.

“That’s great Chief!” Carmen said with a smile, “Is that all you needed to tell me?”

“Oh no, there’s something else,” A picture of a woman who looked to be in her late 30s popped onto the screen, her thinning hair was a dull gold color. It was a bit hard to see her eyes past her glasses but they looked hazel, “Former paleontologist turned criminal Dina Sauer has stolen the fossils of dinosaur bones from the White Mountain Dinosaur Exploration Center in Springerville, Arizona!” Something that seemed absent from this whole ordeal was the addition of funny visuals that related to the stolen item, it honestly concerned Ivy.

“Well, that’s terrible but do we have any reason for her to steal them?” Carmen asked.

“Nope, nope, nadda. Not a whoseit, whatsit, nothing.”

“Drat,” she placed her thumb and index finger around her chin and thought for a moment, she then turned and realized that Ivy was still there, “Oh, sorry, if you’d like to leave you’re welcome to now.”

“Actually, is it ok if I suggest something?” Carmen nodded at her proposition, “I know it sounds insane but what if she was trying to revive the dinosaurs? Yes, yes, I know it’s considered impossible but that’s what they said about space travel and we proved them wrong by sending a man to the moon! And hopefully, a woman soon.”

Silence.

“I think you may have hit your head on that pipe too hard.”

“No, really, I’m serious,” Ivy assured her, “Why don’t you do a background check of her?”

Carmen stared at her for a moment before giving in and typing her name into the computer.

“During her time working at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithica, New York, Dr. Sauer was considered a bit of an oddball among her peers.” While the Chief explained, a cartoonish version of the Doctor was displayed on-screen with spiral eyes and making noises only a person considered insane would make. Two other cartoony paleontologists looked on in confusion.  
“Was there anything about wanting to revive dinosaurs?”

“Hm, let’s see,” a display of the Chief scanning went up onto the screen until it instantly went back to normal, “Actually, yes. She tried many times to get a pitch to allow her to take the marrow from the dinosaur bones but they all got REJECTED! So, instead of trying again, she decided to put matter into her own hands and did it herself in secret. Eventually, she was caught and got the boot from the institution.”

“But Chief, why would she want to steal these bones in particular? There are hundreds of dinosaur bones all over the world!” Carmen questioned.

“Well, these bones found May this year in the Petrified Forest National Park are believed to be the oldest dinosaur bones there are, dating back 225 million years!”

“Wow. Well nice job… you,” Carmen complimented Ivy, “Wait, what is your name anyway?”

“Uh, Ivy. It’s nice to meet you.” She extended her hand towards Carmen.

“Cool, my name’s Carmen. How would you like to work at ACME? We need someone with your intelligence around here,” she looked at the Chief, “If that’s ok with both of you of course.”

“We’d need a few days for her to get accepted but if she’s got the smarts, she’ll make it in just fine! Say, Ivy, how old are you? We need to make sure your parents are ok with you joining.”

“I’m 18 and you won’t have to worry about asking my parents, they’re not with me right now.” The other three in the room might’ve taken it as in the dead not with her because they side-eyed each other before deciding not to say anything.

“So, Ivy,” Dr. Casey broke the silence, “How about we get you an application and test to fill out?” he put his arm around her shoulder and led her into a different room.

* * *

It took 3 hours to finish everything and Ivy was beat, she was careful not to get everything right that'd raise suspicion but she also didn’t want to get too many wrong that she didn’t get the job at all. This whole day was just a trip, the fact that she couldn’t remember how she ended up here sucked but it started to pail in comparison to the fact that she had nowhere to stay and it could easily take a week before her application got accepted.

She opened the doors to outside only to find it was storming out, in the present, she’d at least be ready for this since she knew she’d have a home to get to at the end of it but this was 1985 and Ivy had nothing. She could really only hope she got accepted into ACME in less than a week and that they paid as well as they do in the present.

Ivy rushed her way away from ACME headquarters, she didn’t need them finding her in a cold, damp alleyway instead of a warm, clean apartment. She could’ve sworn she’d traveled over 1000 blocks and turned right and left countless times but she still didn’t feel like she far enough. Unfortunately, despite her brain telling her to travel farther, her body wanted to rest. She collapsed in the middle of the alleyway and started to feel drowsy.

She took the picture of her and Zack out of her pocket and looked at it, if it weren’t for the fact her little brother was still in the present, Ivy might’ve just killed herself instead of having to suffer through this.

She stashed the picture back into her pocket and hoped the cold October wind would spare her tonight.


	2. Gas Station Bathroom

Waking up in an alleyway isn’t exactly the best way to start your morning but that’s exactly how Ivy’s started. Groggy is the only word she could put to how she felt, she really needed to find shelter of some sort. Though, before she did that, she really needed to get cleaned up, messy hair and ripped clothing doesn’t exactly create the best impression on others.

First things first, she needed to find a bathroom. Luckily, this was San Francisco and there were bathrooms everywhere, she just needed to find one. A gas station across the street seemed to be the best decision.

Inside was the most stereotypical presentation of a redneck Ivy had ever seen, extremely skinny, deeply tanned skin, and a blond mullet. Ivy almost laughed at the cartoonish display of a man but she kept her mouth shut. 

“Hello? I was wondering if I could use the bathroom here.” She approached him.

“Sorry, little missy,” Jeez, even has the accent, “ya gotta buy something here to use the bathroom.”

Something to buy, something to buy… Ah, pretzels! 

“How much are the pretzels?”

“A dollar each, but if you buy 5 you can get ‘em for 3 dollars,” he answered.

She dug through her pockets to find her wallet, it isn’t the best idea to keep $263 on your person while chasing a super thief, but it seems her poor planning has saved her this one time. 

“I’ll take 5 pretzels.”   


He rang the money into the cash register and gave her a receipt, “Alright, follow me to the bathroom.”

* * *

Ivy couldn’t say that the bathroom was the most disgusting thing she’d ever seen in her life since it did its job just fine but… How would one say this? It was disgusting, it looked like no one had cleaned it in a long time. She’d think that a bathroom that was pay-to-use would be in better condition than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, this is where I'll be ending this. I lost interest in the plot I had originally thought up for this and I can't think of another plot that could sustain this all. If anyone would like to continue it, please let me know.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've posted my writing here on A03 or any fanfiction site in general so this might suck a little bit. Any criticism is welcome!


End file.
